The Book of Heresies
Foreword This journal was discovered in the Suttar Crypts located in the Agate cemetery district, by Prophet, a bastet graverobber and later one of the founding members of The Khanate. Translated and denounced by him, a copy was left with the Agate library for posterity. It contains the journal of a long-dead Bastet scholar concerning the prime attribute of Yarn. ' ' Chapter 1 What is written here, I am sure will be considered heresy at the least by the Siamese Sanhedrin, and mortal blasphemy- the Unpardonable Sin- by the common rabble of bastet, shir and tab... but are we not all children of Yarn, and simultaneously His parents? They insist Yarn is the untangleable knot, but is He not also the pristine skein... the hidden that insists upon being discovered? Of course, I speak of the heresy first brought forth by Ahmet Jazheera, the Glass Emirate scholar- the theory he called The Prime Weave, in which he claims to have discovered the single non-dualistic attribute of Yarn... the knot that once unravelled, would explain the mystery of the Afghan of Existence. The Siamese Sanhedrin silenced him and he was burned at the stake along with his writings before he could divulge his ideas... however, I have been able to collect scraps of notes and ideas gleaned from other distant members of the Jazheera clan which has led me to write this treatise... the sum of my life's work. ' ' Chapter 2 Yarn- that which has always been. I have found several parallel concepts among members of the other high races. The dwarves have their chizeled tales of Bahakar, The Manifold Presence. Orcs sing their songs of Yggdrasil, The World Tree. Ancient humans were monotheistic, worshipping a single deity known only as Tor-Hadam, the Father of All. Tor-Hadam is the best chronicled, for humans are prolific writers, surpassing even the voracity of the Bastet for historical archives. Through extensive research and archaeological discoveries, I have pieced together a thesis concerning Yarn as He parallels Tor-Hadam. Both histories claim that this being has always existed, and before Him was no other creator or created. Tor-Hadam spoke, and from his breath all things which are, were formed. He ordered everything and blessed it and said it was pleasing. Yarn knitted the first knot from his own essence, and from that seed, wove together the tapestry of all that exists, and stretching it to test its strength, found it to be perfect. You see... the tales are uncannily similar.' ' As time progressed, Yarn continued to weave, sometimes unravelling large swaths of existence in order to re-macrame a new and more beautiful design... and so it went, ages upon ages, until at last, the souls of the sentient beings were spun. Yarn was fully invested in His creation, for He had created all from His divine essence, until at last, Yarn was in all, and in fact was all. ' ' Chapter 3 And so we can clearly see that yarn is both Creator and Destroyer... both loved and hated, both intimate, yet separate. This plurality of attributes, while seeming to be simply esoteric nonsense to the other races, thus achieves harmony and balance when viewed from the slitted eyes of the catfolk. So far, so good. But here is where the story changes... and is forbidden by the Sanhedrin. The histories of Tor-Hadam were rich with mythology and wisdom, until the story of The Fall, which seems to correlate with a sudden loss of culture, and a setback in technology of all disciplines. Archaeological records show that great cities and seats of civilization fell, and there were floods, and fires and catastrophes that wiped out much of the life that once existed. After this period of relative historical darkness, there are no more stories of Tor-Hadam... and indeed monotheism itself gave way to the pantheon of deities we still worship to this day. What I am about to write can never be shared. I know that now, but I must write it for my own sanity. If these things were known, it would rip apart the fabric of our very culture and civilization. There would be panic and destruction and war, for this goes against everything we have always known to be true, and have believed. ' ' Chapter 4 Yarn travelled through the strands of all, until one day, He came upon a knot which He had not tied, for neither was it a knot, nor had He unravelled it. It should not be possible, and yet it was.... for this was something other than Yarn, who by His very nature was all! My heart pounds, and my paws tremble as I write this... for at last, this is the answer to the riddle of Yarn- the Prime Attribute. The thing which He is, and yet its opposite is not... for the thing which Yarn had met was that which was not. I speak of Oblivion.... which some languages call Rovagug. This is impossible to grasp with the mortal mind, but I shall describe it as best I can. Oblivion is not the void of space, for Yarn is both Essence and Void. It is not destruction nor death, for yarn is both Knitter and Unraveller, both Giver of life, and the Stealer of Breath. Yarn did not knot together existence in any sort of space or vacuum, for those too, did yarn string together. There is nothing which Yarn had not brought forth, except for Oblivion. This Oblivion began to grow, to burn away the strands of the first knot, and by extension, Yarn Himself. Yarn attempted to unravel and re-crochet the missing knots, but as soon as He could re-weave, Oblivion burned the new knot from time and memory. There is no way to truly describe this process, for it is simply beyond our understanding. Instead, I can only relate this parable. Yarn saw that all would soon be lost. The screams and cries of creation itself flooded his being, and so in his last act, he sundered the very fabric of the Weave of Existence into fragments of the original Afghan... in essence, separating himself from himself... so that Oblivion could not touch All. Chapter 5 Then, the fragments loosely rejoined in a great sphere with Oblivion at its center, forever impotent to touch the strands of existence which swirled forever out of its reach. I will now use Tor-Hadam and Yarn interchangeably for the rest of my writings. In human mythologies, Tor-Hadam fought the Great Enemy, Rovagug, who struck him down with a mortal wound. From Tor-Hadam's body, sprung his children, who made war against Rovagug. There was Om-Korveri...The Will of Yarn, Om-Dezhni...The hopes and dreams of Yarn, Om-Irori..the perfection of Yarn, Om-Gozhri... The body of Yarn, Om-Goruzhmi... The might of Yarn, Om-Azhmodi... The supremacy of Yarn.... and many others.... for these are the primal names of those deities which we still worship today. Korverion, the sun god, Desna the moon goddess, Irori the master, Gozreh the god of nature, Gorum, god of war, Azmodeus, the prince of darkness, and all other pantheons. The War lasted for centuries, and many heroic and nefarious deeds were done on both sides. By this time, many of the new gods had become corrupted by the taint of Rovagug while wounding and weakening him with the touch of existence. Ultimately, it was Korverion and Desna who led the final assault. ' ' Chapter 6 Histories vary on this point, but there appears to have been civil war in heaven. Desna sought to hold Korverion back from the front lines and almost caused the loss of all they had been working for. In desperation, Korverion swept the very stars from the sky and threw Desna off, but by that point, failure was imminent. In his final act, Korverion smote Rovagug with all of his divine essence and will, sacrificing himself for the good of all. He threw down Rovagug into the bottomless pit and his people, while being slaughtered by nightmarish creatures of evil, sealed the prison with Korverion's blood even as he fell dying to the earth. So we can see how even now, Yarn is both adored and despised... trusted and feared, both dark and light, and why we must both protect and attack it, both straighten and tangle it, both take shelter in, and yet unravel it. What then is the Prime Attribute? Existence. Yarn is that which Is, not that which is not. But that is not the final footnote of this heresy. There is a prophecy that speaks of the rise of Rovagug yet again, and that Yarn will be reborn into this world. What that means, I can only guess. Korverion is the will of Yarn, brought forth from the Fabric of Yarn. I believe the prophecy speaks of the return of Korverion to the world, to defeat Rovagug once and for all time. Category:World Category:Religion Category:Yarn